Did everyone get their letter yet telling you how the cost of living since 2008 hasnt went up so we are not getting raises again this year? I think it SUCKS!

I get $903 after they take the $96.50 for insurance a month. I figured it up and I make $5.64 an hour for a 40 hour work week. Whats minimum wage now? Over $7 bucks? Love how our government treats us???

SSDI is based on OUR earnings NOT on what the President says - it was Congress -

By law, Social Security passes along an annual cost of living adjustment -- or COLA -- to recipients. The increase is tied to a broad measure of inflation in the economy, and a year hasn't gone by since Social Security was created in the 1930s without a COLA.

But consumer prices have been flat or falling this year due to the sinking economy. And while the 2010 COLA won't be announced formally until this fall, government forecasts make clear that Social Security recipients shouldn't expect an increase next year -- and probably not for at least two years beyond that.

More -A general decline in the financial picture of seniors is well underway; a recent survey by the Pew Research Center showed that more than a third of seniors have cut their household spending in the past year; nearly 40 percent said the recession has caused stress in their families; a majority (56 percent) said the recession "probably will make it harder for them to take care of their financial needs in retirement."

But one of the most painful implications of the vanishing COLA comes from the way that Social Security is linked with retiree health care costs. This is related to Medicare premiums and other general out-of-pocket expenses.

Most Social Security recipients choose to have their Medicare Part B premiums deducted from their checks. Part B covers physician and nursing services, tests, vaccinations, and a variety of therapies, and the COLA normally is more than enough to cover any annual increases.

The Part B premium has been rising sharply in recent years. It's currently set for 2009 at $96.40 per month, and will jump to $104.20 in 2010 and $120.20 in 2011.

What will that mean for retirees in 2010, absent a Social Security COLA? The good news is that about 75 percent of Medicare recipients are protected from a net decrease in benefits under the law, according to research by The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. But you're not protected from the increase if you fall into one of several categories.

Learn more about how seniors will be affected at RetirementRevised.com.